With the issue pertaining to the outcome of the Goalgate scandal referred to Safa Cape Town’s Disciplinary Committee, the Mother Body’s president Bennett Bailey has opened up as to why the Third Division playoffs were allowed to continue pending an investigation.
“It is a process and this is where the referees come in,” Bailey conveyed to No Bones with Jones. “There is a referees review committee and they have called those referees in.
“I haven’t studied those reports yet because I haven’t seen them. I would have loved to have seen it to also know what they have discussed with the referees.
“But I know there is this thing uhmm… because I am a match commissioner myself. This is where match commissioners come in. Match commissioners have the ability or the responsibility, if they pick up something like this, to stop the game and the referees should have done it.
“The referees should have stopped the game, called the two captains and warn them that something is not right here,” Bailey concluded.
Bailey’s reply stems from the perception of many in the football fraternity who felt that the playoffs at William Herbert a couple of weeks ago should have been stopped and the matter should have been resolved before proceeding with the knockout stages.
It is the freakish scores when 58 goals were scored in two matches in Group H, dubbed as the “Group of Death” which included Rebels FC, Two For Joy, West Coast, Electric City and Diadora FC.
Things started to get interesting in the last group matches when Two For Joy and Diadora were both deadlocked on seven points but the former had a superior goal difference. Two for Joy had to beat West Coast and Diadora needed to replicate that against Electric City with a bigger margin.
The eyebrows were raised in the second half of Diadora and Two for Joy’s respective matches when it was raining goals in both matches.
In the end, Diadora FC topped the group with a 35-1 scoreline and progressed to the quarterfinals on goal difference of +38, while Two For Joy had +36 following their 22-0 win.
Diadora along with Clover FC went on to qualify for the Third Division.
